LEARNING, MEMORY, AND AMNESIA 1

learning

How experience changes the brain

Controlled Processes

conscious, and intentional information processing

automatic processes

unconscious, effortless, and habitual

memory

Deals with how these changes are stored the brain

Autobiographical Memory

A person's memory for personal experiences and facts about their life, forming a coherent narrative of their past

Encoding

input of information in the brain

Storage

maintaining information in the brain (short/long term memory)

Retrieval

accessing information from the brain

Amnesia

Pathological loss of memory

Henry Gustav Molaison

suffered an average of on generalized seizure each week and many partial seizures each day despite massive doses of anticonvulsant medication

Bilateral Medial Temporal Lobectomy

The removal of the medial portions of both temporal lobes, including most of the hippocampus, amygdala, and adjacent cortex

lobectomy

An operation which a lobe, or a major part of one is removed from the brain

lobotomy

An operation in which a lobe, or a major part of one, is separated from the rest of the brain by a large cut but is not removed

Trephination

A surgical procedure where a hole is made in the skull by the removal of circular piece of bone

Retrograde Amnesia

Backward-acting; inability to recall past memories

Anterograde Amnesia

Forward-acting; inability to form new memories